When launching their new canned tequila cocktail, Damn Right Cocktails reached out to Smith & Co. to help build a quick launch site on a tight timeline, and with a tight budget. They already had branding, strategy and a product pretty much solved. So we jumped in, helped write their launch copy, designed and built their site, and created some social posts, posters and swag.

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It might sound funny, but the founders of Damn Right actually give a damn. Not just about Tequila and making great cocktails — about people too. They wanted to find a way to use their background in the Tequila industry and bartending knowledge to make a delicious drink that’s more than something to sip on.

Damn right believes that Doing good in the world, starts with your own damn self. Only you can choose what you put into your body, and from their research, a sizable demographic is looking for something a bit healthier. Damn Right uses only use natural, organic ingredients, and each can has only 110 to 130 calories. All of their ingredients are carefully selected, and their organic 100% de Agave Tequila is sourced from the Partida family, 4th generation Tequila makers in Amatitan, who grow their own organic agaves. Their lime juice is squeezed from Tahiti limes grown on the side of Mexico adjacent to the Caribbean. Their strawberries are organically farmed in the good old USA. Add some organic Jalisco agave nectar for sweetness, and some other natural flavors, and you’ve got a Tequila cocktail that’s just right.

To do their part, Damn Right has pledged to donate up to 5% of their profits to charities that help fund educational opportunities in underfunded communities. They also donate directly to individual educators through the Donors Choose platform.

It’s this combination of doing the right thing for you, the customer, and doing the right thing for the greater “community” that informs the copy and materials that we created.

Messaging
Working with the beginnings of a messaging platform, we developed a simple way to articulate what makes Damn Right different than other canned cocktails: We’ve mixed the right ingredients and the right cause into one can to make a damn good sparkling organic Tequila cocktail. And their key headline copy: Drink right. Do right. Damn Right! We used that two-part copy construct to create our marketing materials: One part great cocktail, one part greater good.

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Website
To extend the look of the brand, we developed a grass-rootsy site that goes along with this fun, boot-strapping young company. We worked with the team at Damn Right to write the site copy to hit all the key points, but in a voice that brings the brand to life in a fun, unique, and engaging way.

From their brand elements and existing illustration, we created additional artwork to help convey the quality of their ingredients as well as their approach to equality. These elements were used organize the site, along with simple two word titles that carry the Damn Right theme throughout.

Brand Guidelines
As a resource for our project, as well as something that Damn Right can use to help maintain consistency across all of their marketing materials, we assembled their brand elements into a one-pager toolkit that’s easy to reference and pull elements from as needed.

This project was a joy to work on, with clients that were appreciative and had a great sense of what they were looking for. As a result, they seemed pretty happy with the process and the result.

“We pulled in Dustin from Smith & Co. to help with our launch site. As well as getting the site written, designed and built quickly, he also helped us expand our brand guidelines to give the brand more depth, developed brand merchandise, and created marketing materials that helped bring our new brand to life. All of this was done to Dustin’s usual high standards, and the results were truly amazing” — Mark Lewis, Founder Damn Right Cocktails.

What’s next?
Damn right is currently in fine beverage stores in Texas and California, and working on distribution around the globe. If you want to see them in your local market, click here and let them know.

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The Smith & Co. blog is written and produced by Dustin Smith and Smith & Company. Smith & Co. is family-owned, West Coast, branding and marketing communications company, grounded in strategic ideas and brand storytelling. With its roots in San Francisco, California and its leaves in Bend, Oregon, this virtual, scalable team works directly with clients, other agencies, award-winning industry talent, family and friends. Projects are serviced at a project fee, and talent can be hired hourly, daily or weekly. Get in touch by clicking here.